(1/30) Adams County’s Healthy Adams Bicycle/Pedestrian, Inc. (HABPI) is in the beginning stages of establishing an off-road multiuse trail from Gettysburg to Emmitsburg. The over ten mile trail addition is still in the early stages of development, but is intended to start in Gettysburg, at the Visitor’s Center for the Gettysburg National Military Park.

This multiuse trail will be part of the Grand History Trail (GHT), which is a 250+ mile loop trail that includes Gettysburg. The GHT connects Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. Back in 2009, a concept plan was put together by the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy outlining the GHT. Trail planners and advocates realized that by connecting a number of existing trails, they could create a larger looped trail; so over half of the GHT is already done. However, it is up to local residents and municipal officials to complete the missing links in their jurisdictions. Currently, Adams County only has on-road components of the GHT, but is working on planning the off-road trails to connect to the GHT.

Various groups and organizations have been working on the establishment of the GHT. Meetings have been held with state officials from both Pennsylvania and Maryland and officials from Washington D.C., under the auspices of the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy. Trail and bicycle advocacy groups have also been involved in the meetings and are working with local and state officials to facilitate the continued development of this trail system. On the county level, county and local government officials are working to plan and develop trails that will be part of the GHT.

Before construction of new "connection" trail can begin, HABPI must go through a few steps, including a feasibility study, which must be initially completed. This study will contain recommended routes and cost estimates for designing and constructing the trail. However, the feasibility study will only plan the trail to the Pennsylvania/Maryland border since the funds are coming from the state of Pennsylvania.

In order to fully fund the feasibility study, HABPI partnered with the Gettysburg Area Recreation Authority (GARA) to seek funding from the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR). HABPI was awarded a grant for half the cost, in the amount of $30,000, of the feasibility study. In order to match the DCNR grant, additional funds were sought. HABPI received funds from the Adams County Greenspace Grant Program, along with a grant from the Hoffman Trust, Destination Gettysburg, the Rotary Club of Gettysburg, Adams Electric Cooperative, Thrivent Financial, as well as numerous individual donors. A professional firm with expertise in conducting trail feasibility studies was contracted and preliminary work began in August.

An additional step that must be taken before trail construction can begin includes the acceptance of the trail route by all municipalities along the route as well as the approval of property owners if the route should cross private property. Once the trail route is confirmed, funding must then be obtained to produce an engineering survey, which must be completed along the entire route. This study will produce detailed design documents with construction specifications and estimated costs.

Once all studies are complete funding must be obtained to construct the trail. According to Dennis Hickethier, President of HABPI, State and Federal grants would be sought from a variety of programs in order to bring this trail to fruition. Construction of the trail may be done in sections and could take 2-5 years to complete, depending on whether funding is available for the entire trail at one time or smaller sections at a time.